Newton's Third Law of Motion Lesson: Action-Reaction Pairs, Grades 6-8

When you push on a wall, does the wall push on you? This lesson uses that question to teach Newton's third law: forces come in equal and opposite pairs, and each force in the pair acts on a different object. Students name action-reaction pairs, explain why the two forces do not cancel each other, and work through a collision between two made-up carts.

What's inside

• 17 slides (PowerPoint, editable), with speaker notes on all 17
• Lesson plan, 2 pages, with a 25-minute version
• Student worksheet, 2 pages: 8 action-reaction pairs, a collision, a bumper design and an exit ticket
• Answer key, 1 page, with a 20-point scoring guide
• PDF plus editable Word

Answer key included

Want this for a different grade? Request a lesson